by Tia Wilson
“They are everything we expected my brothers and sisters. I saw the very people that turned their backs on us. They are not gods to be worshipped. They are flawed creatures already beginning to spiral towards their own demise. I could smell it on them, the decay of a society that is stuck in its ways and not allowed to grow with the changing times. I stared into the black eyed monstrosity they call Tulimak, we were as close as I am to you. Do you know what I saw when the clan leader held court with me,” he said waiting for the crowd to respond.
“No,” shouted mongrels of every shape and broken form from the crowd.
“I saw a shifter who has lived in the shadows too long and now that his time has come to step out into the light he has already started to falter. I could practically smell the fear off him. It was soaked into his expensive suit, his lacquered hair and his tanned skin. We represent the future and the white bears are the past,” Nasak said pumping his fist in the air and turning the side of his face caught in a perpetual snarl to the crowd.
They erupted into shouts and cheers and the roars seemed magnified in the narrow valley they had set up camp in. Cheers mixed with the strained half animal and half human of some of the most mutilated mongrels. Nasak stood surveying his family allowing the roars to swell to a crescendo. He raised his hand and the crowd begin to quieten.
“The white bear clan kicked us out because we sullied their image of themselves as proud and powerful animals. We represented rot and decay to them. I’m here to tell you that the true rot has already taken hold in the clan. They are a decadent and soft clan of shifters. Where once there was a powerful group of warriors now we have a bunch of cruel sadists experimenting on humans and shifters,” Nasak said holding for a second to let the weight of his statement sink in.
The mongrels in the crowd looked to each other. The idea of hurting one of their own was an alien concept to them. All mongrels were part of a family and this bond was unbreakable.
“They are no better than animals,” Henry shouted. He was a be-speckled man in his late fifties who from the waist up looked completely normal. The bottom half of his body was gnarled and broken with shards of bone sticking out from the twisted mass of his legs. Tufts of course fur grew in patches over his legs and his feet where curled and shrunken caught in mid transformation. He had to walk with a stout cane and sometimes he had to be carried when the terrain was particularly rough.
Nasak looked down at Henry and said, “Brother Henry is correct. The white bear clan has fallen from the path and are now a society in decline. Their time is coming to an end they just don’t know it yet.”
The whole crowd erupted into cheers and loud claps and Nasak stood with his head bowed as he let the energy of the crowd grow to a frenzy. He slowly raised his head and every member of the mongrel tribe would swear that he looked at each of them individually, that Nasak spoke to each of their hearts. This was his power as a leader.
Now is the time to reveal all, Nasak thought as the clapping and cheering reached a peak.
“I know I have been secretive to you my family,” Nasak said sweeping his arms across the crowd. “This ends now as we reach the final stages of our journey. We are returning to the homeland, we are going to walk right into the clans enclave with our heads held high. No door will stop us as we have the key.”
Nasak gave the signal to his men and they went to the large tent at the back of the camp. The four mongrels carried out the wooden crate and placed it before Nasak. The crowd gasped at its arrival as expectations grew about who or what was its contents. Rumour about its contents had spread through the group when it was first brought in under the cover of night a few weeks ago. Nasak removed a key from around his neck and unlocked the brass padlock at the corner of the box. His men slipped the lid off and placed it beside the box.
The crowd pushed forward eager to see what was inside, no one dared to get too close. A noise came from inside the box and the mongrels at the front moved back, something had moved inside the crate.
Nasak gestured to two of his guards and they reached into the box and lifted out an old man. He was stripped of all clothing except for a piece of cloth tied around his waist. The two mongrel guards held the old man between them. Extending his arms for all to see. Along the length of each leg, up the centre of his stomach and then branching out along each arm was a sequence of round black discs embedded in his skin. The old man raised his head and looked at the crowd as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Between his teeth was a rod of the same black material as the discs. The rod was secured in place with leather strips tied on the back of his head. The mans arms and legs were withered and thin ropes of muscle where visible under his pale skin. His eyes were sunken and ringed by dark shadows and his grey hair hung in greasy strands over his face.
A murmur rippled through the crowd as they all stared at the weak looking old man before them.
Nasak took a step towards the old man who raised his head up with difficulty and looked at Nasak.
“Behold, our key to the white bear enclave,” Nasak said.
“Who is this?” a voice said in a loud bark from the back of the camp.
“This is the shifter that banished many of you from your families. The man who ripped you from your community and chose to cast you out like fetid waste. This is the once mighty Tannis, leader of the white bear clan,” Nasak said holding Tannis by the chin and raising his head up for all to see.
The crowd erupted into a roar louder than any that had come before. Mongrels stamped their feet on the ground while others clapped and shouted. For the first time in a long time some of them began to hope, to allow an idea that always seemed like a dream to now take up place as a possible reality. The mongrel tribe started to think about going home.
Nasak waited for the noise level to start to wane and raised his hand for silence. Every tribe member was watching his every move and he could feel the trust they had for him emanate from the crowd like the heat from a furnace.
“This pathetic shifter before you is the one who decided that all of you are filth that should be forgotten about. He is the root cause of all our strife and now he is our prisoner. Look how weak and insignificant he looks. Do you think someone like him could survive without the help of the clan. Do you think he could make it through the fires of hell that every one of us here has walked through?”
Nasak stepped forward into the crowd so that he could be closer to his people. Some of them reached up and touched the corner of his shirt and then kissed their finger or mutated claw to their lips. Nasak laid his hand on the shoulder of every tribe member that was close to him. A low murmur of whispers rose up from the crowd as he walked into the middle of them.
“We captured Tannis six months ago and have been holding him at a remote location ever since. I am sorry I have had to keep this secret from my family for so long. We have not hurt or tortured him and have treated him better than his type would ever offer a mongrel. He has been fed everyday and had access to water to bathe every few days. He is our prisoner, but remember we are not the twisted animals that the clan would try to paint us as. He has been treated as well as can be in this situation,” Nasak said.
“Why does he look so weak,” the same barking gravelly voice asked from the back of the camp.
Nasak peered over the front of the crowd to the mongrels at the back and said, “You can all see the markings on his body. These are discs of obsidian embedded in his flesh,” Nasak said holding his hand up before any one asked a question. “They do not hurt the shifter at all. The obsidian only stops him from transforming, the old stories about its properties are true. It has no effect on us so no one need worry about getting close to it. The obsidian stops him from shifting and seems to keep him in a placid state. He was already weakened and frail when we found him. We think he had been hibernating for a long time.”
“This is a dangerous path we are going down,” the mongrel with the gravelly voice said from the back.
“Step forward broth
er, air your grievances you know that is our way. Every one here has a voice,” Nasak said.
The crowd moved apart to let the mongrel through. A man with short cropped hair and a round fleshy face walked forward. Outwardly he looked perfectly normal and it was only his deep raspy voice that would of raised suspicion among humans. His voice seemed to explode out of his throat in a roar as he talked and words sometimes came out between gritted teeth as he tried to control his mangled vocal cords. Nasak knew the man well as he did all of his tribe. His name was Frank and he mostly stayed on the edges of the tribe, never wanting to be the centre of attention. Like all tribe members his story was one full of pain and no one in the tribe ever pressured him to get more involved. Everyone was allowed to live how they pleased amongst the group.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Frank talk out loud in front of a group, Nasak thought as he watched him approach. Frank was one of the few tribe members who could spend some time around humans as most of his afflictions were easy to hide. Nasak had seen the row of bear teeth embedded in Franks side and caught in a vicious snarl as if frozen in time. His mutation added no bulk to his body and so he could wear regular clothes and blend in with people. It was only if he had to say more than a few words that people started to wonder about him. The animal grunts and growls that escaped his lips between words brought most people to the conclusion that he was insane and so would avoid them. Like all of the mongrels of the tribe they each had a heartbreaking story and Nasak knew for someone like Frank he had suffered greatly at the hands of humans as he had lived among them for so long.
When Frank pushed to the front of the group Nasak placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said, “Tell me your grievances brother.”
Franks face contorted as he tried to control his breathing and a couple of animalistic yelps and growls escaped his lips. “What have we become if we are now kidnapping shifters. Are we no better than those who cast us out?”
Nasak looked around at the tribe before him, each and every one of them was hanging on every word he said. Everyone hopeful for a better future, a future where they were no longer seen as abominations. “We have tried for a long time to play within the rules set down by the shifters. We stayed away so we wouldn’t remind them of creatures like us. We were broken and ashamed of ourselves and when they told us to go and never to come back, what did we do? We obeyed them and became shadows and hid in the woods scavenging and trying to build some sort of life. They made us feel less than worthy than a shifter, not a real member of the clan. They were wrong,” Nasak said stamping his foot on the ground.
A murmur of approval went through the crowd.
“We are part of the great white bear clan. They crossed the line when we first tried to make contact with them fifty years ago. Some of you were not with the tribe then,” Nasak said looking at Frank. “The ones who were with us then know exactly what happened when we sent five of our best back to the homeland to make contact. Tannis,” Nasak said swinging around and pointing at the old man, “killed each and every one of them. A group of Mongrels on a peaceful mission and this animal decided to have them ripped to shreds and their bodies left for the crows to eat. That is how they treat a returning mongrel. We intend to bring an end to it,” he said raising his fist into the air.
The crowd clapped in unison and each and every one of them chanted Nasak's name.
“It is ok to have doubts,” Nasak said turning to Frank, “we are not returning to the homeland to over throw the clan leaders. We are returning to show our family members who are left behind that we are still alive. We are going to walk into the centre of town and let one and all see the tribe of the mongrels, let them see that we shouldn’t be feared, that we are all part of the great white bear clan. Tannis is our key, without him the leaders would have us destroyed before we even set foot on their land.”
Nasak put both of his hands on Franks shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “This isn’t an invasion we are planning. It’s a reminder to all of the clan of our existence and the continued banishment of our kind. Mongrels are not second class citizens and we will show them all with a peaceful march through their lands. And if they don't accept us we can stand tall together knowing that we tried. Mongrel kind will prevail,” Nasak said squeezing Franks shoulders as the crowd around them erupted into cheers and applause. Even Frank gave Nasak a smile as he was caught up in the energy of the crowd as they began to chant the name of their leader again and again.
And if they don’t welcome us with open arms Nasak thought, we will kill every last member of the clan. The mongrels will prevail.
19
Grace & Anne
Grace stared at the cracked and mottled ceiling above her bed. The night had been one of nightmare filled images of men with golden fangs chasing her down alleys with walls pressing in threatening to crush her. After waking for the third time in a cold sweat she had given up on getting back to sleep and so let her mind bob along the surface of a grey haze of exhaustion. For what seemed like the last hour, she had no real knowledge of what time it was, with no natural light and a single weak bulb illuminating the room, Grace had listened to Annes laboured breathing. It sounded like something was broken inside her, a creaky rattling with every inhalation as if her lungs were filled with broken glass. Grace had got out of bed and knelt by her friends side watching her face twitch and closed eyes dart as she breathed. She had held her cool and clammy hand, Anne’s fingers going rigid and then flexing as if she was digging herself out of a grave. The colour of her skin looked almost death like, if not for the twitches, she looked as if she had been embalmed. The tiny vessels under her skin pulsed a dark blue around her temples.
Back in her bed and lying on the thin straw filled mattress, Grace had let her mind wander, images of Tom kicking the door in and sweeping her up in his arms dominated her interior world until the creeping dread subsumed it and she started to believe that Tom would never find her and they would never get to be together again. Grace felt a tight ball of anger grow in her chest, anger at the world for dragging her into something that until a very short time ago she didn’t know even existed. So much for a prophecy she thought, I nearly died in that room today and if I have one more session I won’t be coming back from it. I’m no hero, how can anyone think that I am some sort of force for good. I just want to go back to my old life and how things where before. I wish I knew nothing about shifters, and secret clans, or prophecies. I want nothing to do with any of it she thought. Then an image of Tom smiling at her filled her mind and she knew she never wanted to wish away meeting him. She told herself to be strong and sat up and leaned against the wall holding her legs and resting her head on her knees. She could feel tears threatening to come and she told herself, I’m not going to cry, I have to be strong, I must be strong if I ever want to see Tom again.
Over time Annes breathing changed in timbre from a scratchy rasp to something closer to a regular sound. Maybe she is getting better Grace though looking over at her friend. If Anne can come back from her horrible injury, I owe it to both of us to be strong, she told herself. No matter what Grace tried to do to calm herself she could not rest and the thought of the sun rising and the coming day made her whole body feel the cold chill of fear.
Sleep overtook Grace eventually and she was falling.
The earth was cold and damp under her. Above the night was dark and filled with stars. A deep smell of vegetable rot filled her nose. She reached her hands out to her sides and her fingers sunk into soft soil. Something wet and pliable wrapped around her wrists and pulled her hands deeper into the muck. A bell rung far away and the sky changed from deep black to a hazy blue in an instant. She was in a pit with walls that stretched a hundred feet into the sky. Grace looked at her hands and thick pink worms were wrapped around each and burrowing into the soil and pulling her arms in deeper. The fleshy bodies of the worms undulated with a sickening squelching sound. Grace stared up at the patch of sky above and tried to free her arms. The more
she moved the more she was pulled into the earth. She felt movement at her feet and two more giant worms wrapped around her ankles and held her in place.
She tried to scream and nothing but a dry croak came out. Grace thrashed about and the grip on her only tightened. Her arms were now fully extended, pulled into the muddy earth up past her elbows.
“Help me,” she tried to say and no sound came out. She could feel tears in her eyes.
I am in a grave she thought and then the first cascade of earth fell into the pit and landed across her stomach. The loose soil felt cold. Her whole body felt cold.
She knew what was happening. I am dying she thought.
The unseen force outside the grave sped up and earth poured in to the grave. Soon her whole body was covered and only her face was left exposed. “Don’t do this,” she cried and her voice was barely above a whisper.
The last clod of dirt fell through the air towards her and she held her breath. It covered her eyes and mouth. The pitter patter of more earth falling on top of her sounded like it was coming from miles away. Her lungs burned and Grace could feel herself being pulled deeper into the cool embrace of the earth by a force that was tugging at her deep inside. She couldn't hold her breath anymore and let go. Light rushed in to her body through the top of her head and she could see her arms and legs glowing and the light beginning to spread outwards and illuminate the darkness around her.
Everything collapsed around Grace and she was engulfed by chilling darkness, all light was blotted out and in the last moments she could feel the eyes of a half formed and snarling creature watching her.
The unseen thing made a sound like the rustling of a pile of dried leaves and Grace could feel its presence getting closer to her.
